62: Resuscitation Leadership: Beyond the ABCs of CODE BLUE

“Leadership is not a title. Leadership is influence.”

Our host Sarah Lorenzini wants to highlight a question that nurses are regularly asking her to answer on the Rapid Response Podcast: how can we be better leaders during resuscitation where a fast coordinated effort is necessary?

Knowing your place as a leader, knowing how to delegate and communicate, as well as having the ability to channel your inevitable fight or flight response into peak performance, may feel daunting to a lot of nurses, especially those just starting out. However, you don’t necessarily need years of experience under your belt to be a great leader in a code situation, which is what Sarah wants to share with you all today!

In this episode, you will hear a detailed example of what a good leader in a resuscitation situation embodies, what their role is, what tasks are needed, the level of importance of each task, and how to delegate tasks, as well as how to debrief your team.

This information is invaluable to anyone who is in healthcare, even if you are still in nursing school or just starting your nursing career and you don’t necessarily think of yourself as a leader, this episode is still for you!

Tune in for this and more!

Topics discussed in this episode:

• The last thing you should be doing as a leader
• Rescuer one, two, three method
• Less crucial, yet important tasks that need to be assigned
• Closed loop communication and why it is important
• Why you should think out loud as a leader
• The importance of giving kudos even in an emergency situation
• Debriefing as a priority and how to do it
• How to lead a moment of silence (or honor) after an unsuccessful code
• Using your sympathetic nervous system to your advantage